Day 26 – Cheesy Almond Crust Fridge-Bottom Pie
This recipe is a mashup of the Almond and Cheese Cracker recipe from Day 21 crossed with a fairly basic quiche/pie recipe that I sort of made up and use all the time.
Pie is one of the carby foods I miss the most, and I’ve tried a few different potential pie crust replacements. This is the best so far, being very similar to normal quiche crust. Crumbly, tasty and didn’t dissolve when the filling was added.
I love recipes that let me use up the bits and bobs of ingredients from the bottom of the fridge. For this recipe I used up some asparagus that was getting a little wilty and sad – not really “off” but not fresh enough to be the star of a dish, as well as the last remnants of a wedge of parmesan.
For the crust you will need to make a double quantity of the Day 21 cracker recipe mix and press it against the sides of a greased pie or quiche dish. Bake at 180’C until it just begins to turn golden and dry out – don’t go too far, it will go back in the oven later! Set aside to cool.
For the filling you will need:
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs oil (I used macadamia) or butter
About 2 cups of the vegetables of your choice. I used broccoli, asparagus a punnet of oyster mushrooms and some green peas.
1/3c stock
About 100ml cream
3 eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
A decent sized handful of cheese – I used a bagged “pizza blend” and chucked in the last of the parmesan in the fridge, roughly 2 Tbs. You could sub in feta, blue cheese, or anything that you’d prefer and have on hand.
Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until softened and golden. Add the veggies and cook over a medium heat until they are just starting to cook through.
Add the cream and stock and reduce by about half. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a bit before stirring through the eggs, most of the cheese, salt and pepper – if you don’t let the veggie mix cool, the eggs will start to cook when you add them.
Pour this mixture into the premade crust and bake at 180’C until the surface is set and just starting to brown. Scatter over the rest of the cheese and put back into the oven for another 10 mins or so to melt and brown. Enjoy!
